Abstract:
Global nuclear proliferation, bioterrorism, and
emerging infections have challenged national
capacities to achieve and maintain global security.
Over the last century, emerging infectious disease
threats resulted in the development of the preliminary
versions of the International Health Regulations (IHR)
of the World Health Organization (WHO). The current
IHR(2005) contain major diff erences compared to
earlier versions, including: substantial shifts from
containment at the border to containment at the
source of the event; shifts from a rather small disease
list (smallpox, plague, cholera, and yellow fever)
required to be reported, to all public health threats;
and shifts from preset measures to tailored responses
with more fl exibility to deal with the local situations on
the ground. The new IHR(2005) call for accountability.
They also call for strengthened national capacity
for surveillance and control; prevention, alert, and
response to international public health emergencies
beyond the traditional short list of required reporting;
global partnership and collaboration; and human
rights, obligations, accountability, and procedures of
monitoring. Under these evolved regulations, as well as
other measures, such as the Revolving Fund for vaccine
procurement of the Pan American Health Organization
(PAHO), global health security could be maintained in
the response to urban yellow fever in Paraguay in 2008
and the infl uenza (H1N1) pandemic of 2009-2010.